Head of Missouri History Musesum Resigns

ST. LOUIS, M0. (KMOX) – The beleaguered head of the Missouri history museum is resigning.

After months of public controversy over his taxpayer-funded land purchase, his salary, his housing allowance and long vacations, Bob Archibald is calling it quits. His resignation comes less than a week after the St. Louis Board of Alderman announced plans to subpoena Archibald and ask him tough questions about his handling of taxpayer money.

His resignation is being applauded by Gloria Wessels, chairman of the Zoo-Museum District’s audit committee which led the investigation. Wessels called it a victory for taxpayers.

“It means that somebody was watching out for them. The Zoo-Museum District audit committee, I think we did our job well,” she said.

Wessels says Archibald did some good during his term, including the expansion of the history museum, but she says he set a poor example in the poor handling of taxpayer money. Going ahead, she argues that reform is needed.

“Well, it shows that we need to do a better job at the ZMD and we are going to continue to look at the institutions and look out for the taxpayer money more carefully.”